Dev Consoles are shipping on time!

Our office OUYA – the latest prototype we’ve been putting through the paces every day (and most nights) as we jam toward shipping you our product.

Take a moment to reflect, and then keep reading. We have a lot to fill you in on.

HARDWARE

To the hundreds of developers who backed us through Kickstarter to get their hands on our advance dev consoles: Mark your calendars! On December 28, they leave the factory and should arrive within a couple of days (we’ve heard that Turkey and Russia might take a bit longer). Yes, we are shipping these to you on time, as promised.

The dev consoles are an early version of the OUYA console and controller designed for developers to test their games on OUYA. Our Kickstarter developers are the first to get a crack at ‘em! We’re psyched to have you on board, and we can’t wait to see what pours from your brain!

Of course, when the final consoles ship, EVERY OUYA will be a dev console. We told you that already. What we didn’t tell you was that the advance dev consoles you ordered are pretty special – you’ll know what I mean when you open yours. They’re rare drops. :P

The dev consoles aren’t cheap for us to make. And we heard from many of you during the Kickstarter campaign that you simply couldn’t afford one. We wish we could just give them away, and we decided for a few of you – we’d do just that! But you have to work for ‘em...check out our Dev Console Giveaway for more details.

SOFTWARE

Our eyes have been glued to our computer screens building out the OUYA Development Kit (ODK) – tools that do everything from making sure the controller can talk to the game to ensuring that game developers will have the proper tools to get paid.

This early version of the ODK is being tested now. When the dev consoles ship to gamemakers, all developers—even those who may not have their hands on a dev console—will be able to access a web portal where they can download the ODK, get help on our forums, and eventually upload games to OUYA.

While jamming on the ODK, we’ve also had a team focused on the user interface. This involves optimizing Android Jelly Bean to play games on a big screen and spending time understanding the best ways gamers can search for and discover new games. It’s still in development, but it looks great, and the advance dev consoles include a sneak peek...

MEET JULESKANE

That’s me – or how you’ll know me on OUYA anyway!

“That’s great for Julie, but what about my username?”

You’ll have your answer soon enough! By December 25, we’ll email each of you a link to activate your account. For those of you who responded to our survey about preferred usernames, you’ll be able to confirm your choice. For the handful of popular names that had conflicts, we broke the tie(s) by honoring whomever backed OUYA first on Kickstarter. And, if any of you didn’t respond—or didn’t get your preferred username—you can choose a name when December 25 rolls around. Happy Holidays! :)

As we get closer to launch, we’ll be in touch about things like double-checking your shipping address in case you’ve been on the move. But for now, at least one of you can rest easy knowing that you are the only “TurboPianoCat” on OUYA – beating out at least a dozen wannabe TPCs!

Until then!

JulesKane

P.S. Many of you have continued to support us by nominating OUYA for Crunchies Awards in the categories of “Best New Startup” and “Best Hardware Startup” – thank you! If any of the rest of you would like to join in on the action, you can nominate OUYA right now!

@UKnowThatOneKid: I'm pretty sure they're talking about the "Developer Special" level consoles (the $699 ones) that are shipping this month and NOT the $100 backer consoles shipping in March.

"
Pledge $699 or more
600 backers Sold out

Developer Special. A first-run OUYA (already rooted so you can just get going), EARLY SDK ACCESS, an extra controller, and we'll help you get started. We'll also help you promote your game for ONE YEAR, and your games will be marked with a FOUNDER EMBLEM.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012"

"What we didn’t tell you was that the advance dev consoles you ordered are pretty special – you’ll know what I mean when you open yours. They’re rare drops. :P" What does she mean by advance dev consoles? Does that mean he 100$ ones? I sure hope so because that is what I ordered and I really hope that mine is a rare drop! Anyone know for sure?

Those who paid $699 or more during the Kickstarter will be getting the early consoles. Those who paid less than that will have to wait til the March release. That is unless you are one of the lucky 10 to be picked for a free early developer console.

Who will be getting this early version? I really want to start fiddling around with the ODK so that I have a good understanding of it when the ouya actually ships so that I can develop games by then, so is there any way I can get one of these dev consoles?

So what about the mass production of the console. Any part shortage, problems with suppliers or logistics. I mean I have faith that it's going to go through, but I have a feeling that it's going to be delayed...for the rest of the users. And how about some a video demo of a typical game running on actual OUYA hardware. It'll at least put our mind at ease a little.

Hoping you'll show more of the controller soon, since it's one of the most important parts of the console. Just to be sure, from looking at what you HAVE shown of the controller, there doesn't seem to be a start and select button. Will you be adding those very important buttons to the controller very soon? And another question, it seems that even Nintendo went with the stick button standard. Will the analog sticks on the Ouya controller click to provide even more buttons for both devs and players to use? How about rumble? Sorry for all the question